Officials Say Las Cruces' Water Usage Has Declined

Officials estimate that Las Cruces' drinking-water usage fell by 6 percent in 2012.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/X5qsDS) that city officials estimate that drinking-water usage dropped by more than 332 million gallons in 2012 from the previous year.

Las Cruces used 6.72 billion gallons nearly all of 2012, although the numbers for December haven't yet been calculated.

In 2011, the city's water customers used 7 billion gallons of water.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima says he was pleased to learn of the initial findings, but that the city needs to keep working on ways to reduce water usage.